Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Mr. Foxx Exits: But Not Before Kicking Off One Final Highway Project

It's time to Break It Down!

Last week, Anthony Fox wrapped up his tenure as the nation’s 17th Secretary of Transportation.  President Obama appointed him to the post; he was confirmed July 2, 2013. 

Before taking on that post Mr. Fox served 3 and a half years as Charlotte’s 54th Mayor.  Fox is a young star in the Democratic Party, and led the City’s successful bid to host the Democratic Party’s 2012 Convention, at which the Party conferred its nomination on President Obama, who went on to win a second term in office in November 2012.

Fox, 45, was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, graduated from West Charlotte High School, and attended and graduated from Davidson College, (located in Mecklenburg County, the county of which Charlotte is the County Seat), where he became the first African American Student Body President. After matriculating at Davidson, he attended New York University School of Law (NYU), where he earned a J.D. in 1996.

After graduating from law school, Foxx worked at a law firm in Charlotte, clerked for an Appeals Court Judge in Cincinnati, worked for the United States Department of Justice, the United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, and in 2004, he served as campaign manager for Representative Mel Watt.

In the process of honing his own political chops, Foxx ran for and was elected to the Charlotte City Council in 2005, and re-elected in 2007.  In 2009 he upped his game, running for and winning election at Charlotte’s Mayor, a post he was re-elected to in 2011.

President Obama announced in April; 2013 that he would nominate Mr. Fox as Secretary of Transportation. Subsequently, June 27, the Senate confirmed Foxx’s nomination to the post by a vote of 100-0. He resigned as Charlotte’s Mayor and accepted the position. As an aside, Foxx served as the designated survivor during the 2015 State of the Union Address, January 20, 2015. Fox and his wife Samara, also an attorney, have two children, Hillary and Zachary.

Foxx, like other members of the Obama Cabinet wrapped up his official duties by noon last Friday. As the Secretary prepared to hit the road, figuratively, he initiated a parting gesture designed to pay homage to two North Carolinians who gained notoriety as civil rights icons. He signed proclamations sometime last week, asking the NC Department of Transportation to designate portions of I-85 in Mecklenburg (where the City of Charlotte is located) and Durham (where the City of Durham is located) Counties be re-named the Julius Chambers Memorial Highway, and the John Hope Franklin Memorial Highway, respectively.

The process is not yet complete, but it’s anticipated that it will likely go through.  Secretary Foxx admitted:

“These kind of recognitions are rare, and they probably should be. But they are important symbolic statements about the history of the state and the various personalities who’ve animated the state’s history.

Frankly, there are not a ton of examples of African-Americans who have been recognized, and these two are two of the very best who graced us with their presence in North Carolina.”

When contacted to discuss the proposal, NC Governor Roy Cooper endorsed proclamation.  He said in a statement:

“John Hope Franklin and Julius Chambers were men of great vision and purpose who gave so much to North Carolina, and this would be a fitting way for our state to honor them.”

Attorney Julius Chambers played a substantial role in school desegregation.  Secretary Foxx praised him for:

Advancing “the rights of minorities and low income people through his tireless advocacy in the forms of litigation, scholarly research, and grass-roots activism and enhanced racial equality throughout the nation and from his home state of North Carolina.”

He also extolled Franklin, a renowned academic and historian, and his work, saying:

He elevated “the cause of civil rights and the study of black history in the United States” and weaving “into the fabric of American history enough of the presence of blacks so that the story of the United States could be told adequately and fairly.”

After signing the proclamations one of the next steps Foxx took was to apprise relatives of the two icons. Franklin’s son John Whittington Franklin found about the honor via a text message Saturday morning. An employee of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, he expressed surprise.  He further indicated he was pleased, and that he thanked Foxx.

Chamber’s son Derrick indicated he’d learned about the proclamations Thursday, Foxx’s last full day as transportation secretary.  A Charlotte resident, Derrick described it as a great honor.  He added:

“I feel it’s long overdue for someone who made history. I look back at all the work that my father did in my lifetime and I’m proud that he is not forgotten.”

Chambers died in 2013 at age 76. Over the course of his career he was involved as counsel in a number of celebrated cases as the lead partner in the Chambers Stein, Ferguson, and Atkins Law Firm in Charlotte, North Carolina’s first integrated law firm. Among the cases he took challenging discrimination in education, employment, and government, including Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. The 1971 Supreme Court decision that arose from that case was pivotal in making busing a viable option for implementing school desegregation plans. During the most intense years of the civil rights movement, Chambers car was dynamited, his house was firebombed, and his office was torched.  He later served as Director-Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (1984-1993).

Chambers enrolled at North Carolina Central University in 1954. He was the president of the student body at NCCU and graduated summa cum laude with an undergraduate degree in history in 1958. He earned a graduate degree in history from the University of Michigan. In 1959, Chambers entered law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was the first African American editor-in-chief of the school's law review and graduated first in his class of 100 students in 1962. Chambers also became the first African American to gain membership in the Order of the Golden Fleece, the University's highest honorary society. In 1964, he earned his LL.M. from Columbia University Law School.

Franklin died in 2009 at the age of 94. He was a renowned African-American history scholar. In 1947, he authored “From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans,” which is regarded as a seminal work on African-American history.
He served as legal researcher for the NAACP legal defense fund’s work on Brown v. Board of Education, a landmark Supreme Court case that led to desegregation of schools nationwide.

Franklin taught at a number of institutions, including North Carolina Central University and Duke University, both in Durham, NC. At Duke, he was a professor of history and a legal history professor at its law school. He was the first African-American to head the American Historical Association.

Then-President Clinton awarded Franklin the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995. Two years later, Clinton tapped Franklin to lead the President’s Initiative on Race, a panel that was created to foster a national dialogue on the sensitive subject of race relations.

While it’s likely the highways will be renamed, Secretary Foxx’s actions don’t mean that Chambers and Franklin highway signs will go up soon. Applications must be filed with NCDOT requesting the changes must be filed, and a good deal of coordination must still take place. It is actually conceivable that the road in Mecklenburg County that ultimately bears Chambers’ name could be I-77 rather than I-85, because there are several names already in the pipeline.

I am delighted to join Secretary Foxx in saluting these two amazing men, both of whom share an amazing legacy that include membership in one of my favorite organizations, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Meanwhile, Mr. Foxx Exits: But NotBefore Kicking Off One Final Highway Project!

I’m done; holla back!

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Wednesday, January 18, 2017

"WWMD?" (Reprised '17)

It's time to Break It Down!

This is another holiday week. While many may have moved on, I opted not to.  I attended an MLK, Jr. Holiday Observance in a neighboring community.  The program included public officials, minsters, choirs, teachers, students, a genuinely engaged crowd, and a personal friend who delivered the public address. It was a day that appropriately memorialized many of the ideals for which Dr. King surrendered his life.

I must note at first blush I was a little surprised that of the hand full of students who were afforded the opportunity to read their essays, none were people of color. As an aside, one of two students unable to attend the event had an Indian (as in India) surname, so perhaps… However, upon further contemplation, I concluded, if King’s aims are ever fully achieved, the deftness of the students’ writing skill and the content of their character should supersede the color of their skin.  At any rate, in as much as I didn’t read the essays, I’m going to give the teachers and administrators a pass.    

In reflecting on the many works of Dr. Martin Luther King, I decided to revisit a post I wrote in 2011 that examined both the advent of the King Holiday, and at the time, a controversy in local and nearby school systems.  It’s been 6 years since that fateful snowstorm, 31 years since the initial observance of the King Holiday, and 34 years since President Reagan signed the MLK, Jr. Holiday bill into law. Now seems an apt time to take a look into the rear view mirror of time.

Monday was the 25th Anniversary of the initial observance of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday (MLK DAY). After a quarter century of inculcation into the very fabric of our society, it may be largely forgotten that the conceptualization, submission and continual resubmission of the idea, the enactment, and the gradual national observance, was not the product of universal acceptance of a grand and enlightened concept, but rather, was emblematic of the civil rights struggle itself; steeped in controversy, and the eventual victory of a relentless movement to achieve richly deserved, and long overdue social justice.

Several members of Congress, and a number of states, and even a President, using a host of creative means, sought to undermine, outmaneuver, sabotage, subvert, and otherwise derail the efforts of the measure’s proponents. Ultimately, the movement was consolidated, snowballed, and would simply not be denied.

The effort to create a King Holiday was started by U.S. Representative John Conyers, Michigan, shortly after Dr. King’s death, in the spring of 1968. It was first introduced in the House of Representatives in 1979, but fell 5 votes short of the number for passage in the Lower Chamber.

High profile opponents to the measure included Senator Jesse Helms, NCSenator John McCain, AZ, and President Ronald Reagan. Both Senators voted against the bill, and Senator McCain publicly supported Arizona Governor Evan Mecham for his rescission of MLK Day as a State Holiday in Arizona. The campaign however, reached a critical mass in the early 1980’s. Spurred on by Stevie Wonder penning a song in King’s honor called, “Happy Birthday,” a petition drive to support the campaign would attract over 6 million signatures. It has been called the largest petition in favor of an issue in U.S. History.

Buttressed by what had become a wildly successful public campaign, Congress soon followed suit. The proposal passed in the House by a vote of 338-90, and in the Upper Chamber by a vote of 78-22. Given the dimensions of this overwhelming support, in the form of bicameral veto-proof votes, President Reagan signed the provision November 2, 1983, and it became Federal Law. The first observance under the new law took place January 20, 1986, rather than on January 15th, Dr. King’s birthday. A compromise in the legislation specified that the observance take place on the Third Monday in January, consistent with prior legislation (Uniform Monday Holiday Act).

Of course, that was not the end of the story. It would actually take more than 30 years after Dr. King’s death before the Holiday was fully adopted and observed in all 50 states. Illinois holds the distinction of being the first State to adopt MLK Day as a State Holiday, having done so in 1973. Twenty years later, in 1993, for the first time, some form of MLK Day was held in each of the 50 States. It was not until 2000 that South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges signed a bill to make MLK Day a paid holiday for State employees; giving the Palmetto State the dubious distinction of being the last of the 50 States to do so. However, Mississippi also sets itself apart by designating the Third Monday in January as a shared Holiday that honors the memory of Robert E. Lee and Dr. King…two fine southern gentlemen.

So with that extensive preamble, I give you the issue of the day. This year, the convergence of a series of perfect winter storm systems bludgeoned the South and Eastern United States during the weeks leading up to the King Holiday. Part of the collateral damage emanating from these storms was widespread school closings, especially in the South, including parts of Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

In an effort to reformat the remainder of the school year, while minimizing overall disruption to School Calendars, a number of School Administrators discussed, and/or chose to eliminate the MLK Holiday, and program the day as a school “Make-up Day.” The ensuing conversations, especially those that lead to decisions to cancel the Holiday proved to be controversial and highly charged. It does not help that in many Southern school districts, there has been a level of retrenchment that many parents, families, and human rights organizations believe is tantamount to re-segregating the districts.

So I ask you, “What Would Martin Do?” (WWMD?)

I am not going to indulge in intellectual hubris, and pretend I know the answer to the aforementioned query. Instead, I will apply a couple of basic pragmatic considerations, and share my version of common sense. First, it is no secret; the efficacy of the American Education System is in question. By most accounts, American students, our children, are in trouble. A web search of “Shortcomings of the American Educational System” yields 28, 400,000 results. Do not worry I am not about to recount them for you.

The point is from the White House, to the State House, to the School House, the calls for reforming the American System of Education resound clearly, loudly, and incessantly. Almost every depiction of what is required for America to regain its mojo and reach its potential includes some version of enhancing the level and quality of education that we provide to our students.

In that light, I believe we are missing, not only the larger point, but we are also missing a unique opportunity, if we allow ourselves to get “stuck,” quibbling over the alleged unfairness, inequality, or racial bias of administrators having declared MLK Day a school day. Even “if,” any or all of those notions were accurate, and I am not certain they were, our forbears prided themselves in rising above those challenges, and excelling in spite of them. Given all of our advantages, relative to our ancestors, it is incumbent upon us to do the same…and more!

We should have leveraged the construct of MLK Day as a Day of Service, and enhanced it to make it a Day of Service and Education. There are many studies that suggest the longer students stay away from their regular studies and study habits, the more ground they lose. Has it not occurred to anyone that such a result is the very last thing we, or they, need? It was both important, and apropos to have school on MLK Day because that was the next “First Day Available” to conduct the Make-up Day. By taking advantage of that option, the students, for whom education is designed, and whom should derive the greatest direct benefit, receive the highest and best use from a necessary evil; the inclusion of a Make-up Day.  Naturally, all of society reaps the rewards of their immediate increased potential.

Since I am not a medium or a spiritualist, I do not profess to have conducted a séance with Dr. King; nor am I an educator, and I have not polled teachers or administrators. I am just a guy who is a perpetual student…of life, and that is how I see it. So if you were to ask me, WWMD? (Reprised '17),” My answer is, in his most Reverend voice, Dr. King would implore us not to get “stuck,” quibbling over the alleged unfairness, inequality, or racial bias of administrators having declared MLK Day a school day. He would add, “I Have A Dream" that one day, down in Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina, black boys and black girls will join with white boys and white girls, and with Latino boys and Latina girls, and with Asian boys and Asian girls, and they will all get the quality education that they deserve, irrespective of their color, or their culture, or whether January 17th is a School “Make-up Day.” That was my take then and now. What's yours?

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the links: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com or http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com. A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below: